In case the of transfer of the whole ERC single beneficiary project, the new host institution will have no obligation towards the previous host institution concerning grant of access rights to the foreground generated after the project transfer, as the latter will be considered a third party to the project once such transfer succeeds.

The standard model Grant Agreement (GA) establishes provisions relating to access rights to foreground which are “minimal" provisions. The “minimal” access rights mandatory under the GA concern, on the one hand, access rights to beneficiaries and, on the other hand, access rights to affiliated entities established in a Member State or Associated country. These affiliated entities enjoy access rights to foreground under the same conditions as the beneficiary to which it is affiliated, unless otherwise provided for in the GA or Consortium agreement.

The owner of a foreground may grant exclusive licence to a third party, provided that the other participants agree by written means to waive their access rights thereto.

Such a waiver can only be made on a case-by-case basis, and after the concerned foreground has been generated. Participants should be able to assess carefully which specific access rights they are able or willing to renounce. They should also avoid waiving broader access rights than those exactly required to allow granting such an exclusive licence.

According to article II.1.2 of the standard model Grant Agreement, an affiliated entity means “any legal entity that is under the direct or indirect control of a beneficiary, or under the same direct or indirect control as the beneficiary, control taking any of the following forms:

Access rights, a basic term related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), means those rights (e.g. licences or user rights) to use knowledge or pre-existing know-how given by the owners of the knowledge or pre-existing know-how to others.